I really like the way Psalm 106 starts: “Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the Lord or fully declare his praise?” (verses 1,2). 

I’m not such a fan of the middle of the psalm though. (If you haven’t, pull it up on your phone or read it in your Bible.) If you don’t have a Bible handy, I’ll summarize. It’s basically an entire recounting of how awful God’s people were. And it’s not simply a quick, “Oh, we messed up.” It’s over 550 words of how egregiously despicable and rebellious they were. 

My initial reaction is simply being grateful that your and my sins, failures, rebellion, and stubbornness are not written down in a song form for everyone thousands of years later to read and shake their heads about! But it does make me realize that being honest about (but not celebrating) our sins is a good thing. It’s not to bring up guilt and make us feel shameful. Instead, it’s to show how God is faithful even when we are not and that it is his grace—not our behavior—that saves us. We need that reminder every single day. Then we give him all the glory and all our praise, which is how this psalm ends: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel [and us!], from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ Praise the Lord” (verse 48). 

Say it with me: “Amen! Praise the Lord!”